Brothers Taylor Chalk Up Five In A Row After Belle Isle IMSA Win

Column By: JOHN DOUGLAS / RPW – DETROIT, MI – The Wayne Taylor owned No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V-R team found themselves in victory lane again on Saturday at Detroit’s Belle Isle.

The victory in IMSA’s premier division pushes the team’s win streak to five in a row including the final race of 2016. Pit strategy was the name of the game on the tight and bumpy streets of the Motor City and the Wayne Taylor led Cadillac team played it perfectly.

It wasn’t a walk in the park for the brothers Taylor, as Christian Fittipaldi in the Action Express team took a turn at the front of the field mid-race as pit strategy began to unfold for the event. As the field cycled through pit stops, the Konica Minolta Cadillac took advantage of a full course yellow for a spectacular crash involving the Kenny Habul piloted Mercedes GT-3 machine and the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac Dpi of Renger Van Der Zande.

As the field went back to green flag competition, Ricky Taylor had relinquished the controls of the No. 10 and his brother Jordan was now entrusted to bring the car to the finish. Restarting fourth, Taylor simply had to click off steady fast laps as the teams infront peeled off one by one under green flag to make their final pitstops.

As the field cycled through their stops J. Taylor assumed the lead. A lead he would not relinquish the rest of the event. It was the battle from second through fourth that had fans attention though, as The No. 70 Mazda of Joel Miller had the struggling Mazda Dpi program eyeing a rare podium finish at day’s end.

Miller did bring home the Mazda in third with Dane Cameron holding on to second after waiting until the very last moment for the final pit stop hoping for a full course caution. It never came.

The GTD class gave the Taylor’s rason to worry on a few occasions as the race wore down. Multiple cars in class had mechanical issues slowing and nearly stopping them on course. Luckily all stricken cars were able to exit the course safely and the race was allowed to be competed to the very end.

Andy Lally and Katherine Legge took home victory at Belle Isle in the GTD class after struggling mid race with Tommi Drissi in his Prototype Challenge class machine. Lally expressed his frustration with Fox Sports 2 pit reporters saying “Drissi’s driving with his head up his ass.”

Patrici O’Ward took home the PC class victory after dominating over the others in class all event long.

The IMSA WeatherTech Series regroups again for a trip to New York’s Watkins Glen International for the Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen from June 29th-July 2nd.